Let's Set the World on Fire
by The Cheezit Faerie
Summary: He's new to the village while I've lived here my whole life. He's from the Fire Nation while I'm from the Earth Nation. He firebends and I earthbend. What could happen? OCxOC
1. Prologue

**Disclaimer**: Series created by Michael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko.

**Claimer**: I own the OC's and the plot along with the village and the villagers. Nothing more and nothing less.

* * *

Prologue

There's a new family in our little earth village.

We're a close village, the kind where everyone knows everyone. In fact, there's less than one hundred people here and every single one of them can earthbend; including me, of course. We don't let outsiders into our village if we can do something about it. In this case, we couldn't do a thing because it was so unexpected. We all wondered about it and talked about it amongst ourselves, but just talking about it can't stop it; we talked anyway.

Once the house is bought you can't just go up to the new family and tell them to scram or to get out of the village. You just don't do that. That's rude and we're not rude people even though we are very pig-headed.

We all just decided that if we left them alone then they would get the picture and try to stay out of our way instead of trying to butt their way into our lives which will never happen. Heck, maybe they'll feel uncomfortable enough to move away to a more welcoming village.

Unfortunately, they're my neighbors.

They dress weirdly and own weird stuff which made us all come up with one explanation…

They're from the Fire Nation.


	2. New Neighbors Suck

**Disclaimer**: Series created by Michael DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko.

**Claimer**: I own the OC's and the plot along with the village and the villagers. Nothing more and nothing less.

**Pairings**: OCxOC

* * *

New Neighbors Suck

"Put more back into it!" my father shouted as his instructions to make me better.

"I'm putting as much back into it as I can!" I shouted back at him.

There's so much sweat everywhere. There's plenty of it trickling down the sides of my face. I can smell my armpits from where my face is—although it is rather close—and my back tickles from the sweat probably running down because of gravity. My knees are shaking like they're about to cave in. My arms are shaking and I'm in a position where I look like I'm lifting something extremely heavy on my shoulders. In a way, I am.

This time around my father has me practicing my earthbending. Right now he's having me practice lifting up large rocks. So, as I speak, I have a very large boulder over my head that's hovering in the air with only my chi and will holding it up.

Unlike other girls I dress more like a boy or a man would. They wear something like long dresses while I wear something completely different. I wear nice, roomy, baggy cream-colored pants that reach mid-shin and I have something like a green blanket wrapped around my waist that has the earth kingdom symbol on the back. I'm also wearing a white elbow-length sleeved shirt that's much like my pants; roomy, nice, flowing, and baggy. I have a green cloth corset over it with a yellow line on the top and bottom. It's nothing trampy and it's nothing that covers too much. I'd say it's perfect.

Finally, there's my hair. It's dark brown, heavy, thick, and wavy. It comes a little above my shoulders and gets longer until my hair reaches my jaw-line.

Then, there are my flaws that I'm proud of. I have somewhat long feet that are wide which makes my shoe size nine and a half. I don't really have that much curves at all and I'm kind of flat-chested for a sixteen year old. I consider my thick, heavy and wavy hair to be a flaw. I'm not what you would call gorgeous, but I've had some people say I look cute—baby-cute. I am pretty innocent.

"_A-And_ we're done," father said as he looked down at a rock, stretching his "and". "Time is up now, Hun. You did a good job now put the boulder back where it came from."

I shout as I manage to move the rock above a large hole. I lose my form and the rock falls right into the hole perfectly although there's still a large crack going around in a large circle. I tilt back and forth and fall back but my father stomps the ground and makes a slant upward with rock so I would land carefully instead of heavily.

"Thanks dad," I muttered.

"You did well today so you need your rest. Do you smell your sweat?"

"Of course I do," I answered.

"Then that means you did your best. The more you sweat the stronger you'll get. I'll go get some water for us."

"But you didn't do anything except yell!" I shouted.

"It does take a lot out of you, though," father laughed as he headed into the house to get some water.

I sighed and slowly, but surely, put my hands behind my head and then I crossed my legs. My father is supposed to be the best teacher in our small village. I seemed to have gotten the worst of any deal in the village because they all have said that I'm the best earthbender in the village. I didn't and still don't want to be the "best" earthbender in the village.

Maybe it comes with having the best earthbending teacher around for a father…

"The water's here!" my father announced as he came into the backyard.

I sit up with a grunt and hold out a hand. He puts a cup into my outstretched hand and I eagerly drink up half of it in one go. He chuckles and takes some drinks out of his cup and we sit there. Finally, he stomps the ground and a little column of rock comes up and he sits on it.

"So, uh, listen… your mother wants you to go into the house and go offer a pie to the new next door neighbors just to be friendly. I told her that she should do it but she insisted that you do it saying that she's busy with the laundry," he informed me before taking a drink of water.

"It's no problem," I say with a smile. "I'm just walking next door holding something light. It's not going to give me extra strain. I can always come back and do absolutely nothing the rest of the day."

My father chuckles and I get up after drinking the rest of my water. I give him the cup and go inside where there's a pie waiting on the table. I take that and look around to see that my mother isn't around. I shrug and then go out the front door. I walk for not even a minute until I'm at the next door neighbor's door. I sigh and knock then wait as I shift my weight from heel to toe.

The door finally opens to reveal a boy about my age. He's wearing black pants that go up to mid-shin until they disappear into some black boots. He seems to be wearing a tight black shirt with a maroon vest (like Sokka's when he gets his clothes to look like he's from the Fire Nation).

That's when it clicked that he's from the Fire Nation which made something in me click. I looked at his hair and noticed he doesn't have the bun that most of the Fire Nation citizens have. Instead, he just has long hair that reaches down to his eyes and the color is black.

"Um… hi," he says while looking back and forth with his gold orbs curiously. "Can I, um, help you?"

"Yes, you can actually," I say with a tiny bit of a mean tone to my voice. "I'm here to offer up some pie as a "Welcome to our Village" sort of present. Apparently, my family and I have become the welcoming committee. So… here."

I hold out the pie and the guy cautiously takes the pie into his hands. He looks at it as if he's not sure what to do with it and I feel something click inside me again.

"You're supposed to take that inside and set it on the table to tell your mother that you've gotten a present from the next door neighbors," I instructed him. "If she's curious as to who to thank tell her to thank the Afton family… and that Alex gave the pie to you."

"I know the first part of what you said," he said with a little bit of a reproachful stare. "And I'll be sure to tell her the last part, too. That all?"

"Sure is," I said with a reproachful tone.

I turned on my heels and held my head up a little higher than usual as I left his doorstep.

"Hey, wait!" he said. I rolled my eyes and turned around to look at him to see he's looking at the ground as if he was about to apologize or ask for help. "My name's Jamie, Jamie Avery."

"Uh huh, that's nice," I muttered as I turned around.

"Wait!" Jamie called again. I look at the sky as if to ask why he's doing this and this time I turn my whole body around and put my hands behind my back and tilt forward as if to inquire with my body motion what he wants without saying something rude. Jamie rubs his neck and blinks slowly then says, "I've seen you earthbend a couple times. You're really good and all…"

"Yeah I know that already… what's your point?" I asked with a tilted head and a raised eyebrow.

"My point is that I'm trying to be nice because I know you and me are the only people around the same age. Plus, it never hurts to be nice or try to start a conversation," Jamie says with a shrug. "And also 'cause my mom told me to be nice."

"Huh, sucks for you. But it does hurt to start a conversation; it hurts your pride," I say as I straighten back up and put on a straight face. "Anything else you wanna say to "start a conversation" then?"

"No…" Jamie says as he trails off, looking to the side.

"Alright then, bye," I say as I turn with the roll of the eyes again.

I hear Jamie close the door as I head for home. I rub my neck and sigh wearily, wondering what the heck just happened. I kept a note to myself in my head that I am never to go near their house again if I want to stay out of weird and awkward conversations such as what just happened.

But then I wondered when he saw me earthbending. I don't remember earthbending in the front yard while they were here… or maybe they were in that house before I thought they were. I can now see why we keep outsiders out of our business like the Avery family.

Although, in a weird sense, it kind of flattered me. He had watched, at some point, and he thought me to be good at earthbending. I wonder if he knows firebending. I also wonder why he doesn't have that bun at the top of his head like Fire Nation people do. I'm sure that everyone has a bun even though I haven't ever seen anyone from the Fire Nation before now.

Oh well, I shouldn't go wondering things that could mean me having to get closer to that family.


	3. The Ignorant

**Disclaimer**: Series created by Michael DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko.

**Claimer**: I own the OCs and the plot along with the village and the villagers. Nothing more and nothing less.

**Pairing**: OCxOC

* * *

The Ignorant

"Learn to balance, Alex!" father shouted at me.

Right now I'm doing something that's kind of like walking on earth stilts. I balance on a thin pole—like a stilt—and then when I find my center I take a step forward and another stilt appears for my foot to step on. The hard part is from getting from one stilt to the other. I've managed to do this for seven stilts and everytime I find my center I'm supposed to stomp on the stilt I'm on to make the last stilt disappear.

I only need three more, yay!

That's easier said than done, though. I'm finding it hard to balance the further I get and it's obvious, too.

I grunt with fatigue since I haven't eaten or drunk anything because my father believes that it'll "build character" if I could learn how to go on without eating or drinking for long periods of time. That's not working out too well!

I sigh to try to calm myself down but I catch a movement at the corner of my eyes. I look into the neighbor's backyard and I see Jamie looking at me with a cup right at his mouth as if he was about to drink out of it but stopped dead in his tracks like a deer would when put into the spotlight. I feel my cheeks heat up and I look forward again as if I didn't see him. I feel the embarrassment pump adrenaline into my body and I make the last three stilts with no problem.

But when I get to the last one I lose my balance at the last moment and hurdle toward the ground face-first. My dad is right there to catch me and I knock him down which makes him grunt and groan. I sit up and look down at him and start going into this apology frenzy.

"I'm so sorry daddy!" I said loudly. "I don't know what happened, I'm sorry! I'm sorry for having fallen on you! Are you okay? I'm so sorry!"

"It's okay Alex, really. I'm just a bit too old for this is all," father explained with a forced smile. "Can you get off daddy's stomach now?"

"I'm sorry," I apologized again as I got off his stomach and helped him up. "I'm sorry, but… can I go have lunch now?"

"Yeah, yeah, of course you can," father said as he cracked his back.

I help dad into the house to see my mom just set lunch on the table. Dad sits down but I grab my plate and go out to the front to sit on the stone steps like I always do. I like to be outside a lot and I often enjoy watching people pass by.

I sit down and put the plate on my lap which has four sandwiches, some water and a piece of cake. I drink some water first before I start eating my sandwiches. I down the whole entire glass with no problem and then I pick up my sandwich. Just before I can take a bite I see a Blue Robin (a cross between a Blue Jay and a Robin) staring at me while tilting its head back and forth. I couldn't believe how close it was coming.

I look at my sandwich and pull it away from my mouth. I point at it and the Blue Robin jumps once. I furrow my brow and sigh but I take a piece of the crust and throw it at the Blue Robin. Just as I expected it started pecking at the crust. I smile at it and then take a bite out of my sandwich and enjoy eating with a Blue Robin in front of me as if we're eating together.

"I can see that you're okay…" someone says out of the blue.

I quickly whip my head where I heard them talk and I twitch when I see Jamie standing there with that glass in his hand from before.

"Yeah, what's it to you?" I snap at him.

"Well I'm just trying to say that I saw you fall and hope you're okay 'cause it looked like it hurt… although I didn't hear a very loud thump," Jamie says as he looks up at the sky.

"That's 'cause I didn't fall on my face you jerk," I say with a glare because it seems he only wanted to rub it in my face that I fell.

"I didn't mean it in a mean way," Jamie says as he looks over to me from his front step.

"Uh huh, sure," I mumbled with a disbelieving tone before I take a bite out of my sandwich.

"I do not understand what I did to you to deserve such an attitude," Jamie questions me but makes it sound like a statement.

"Simple… you moved here," I answered as I stood up.

Jamie looks at me with a look I can't describe—since he's too far away from me to really see his eyes—but I ignore him and go inside. Before I close the door I take a piece of crust from my sandwich and throw it outside by the Blue Robin and then I close the door.

_Stupid_ I insult Jamie in my mind as I sit at the table and eat my sandwich which earns me curious stares from my parents. I ignore them, too.

|:|:|:|:|:|

"Can't I sleep in just for today?" I whined.

"No, now go and run," my dad orders me while pointing down the dirt road.

It's around six thirty in the morning and I'm still very tired. My form is slouched over and my eyes are still closed shut. I lazily lift my arms up to my sides and practically flail around as my way of jogging.

My dad must be the devil.

Everyday—except on weekends—he'll have me run two miles and then let me sleep for two hours before he wakes me up again to do earthbending. There have been more than enough times where I've considered running away just because of these workout sessions. I don't know why but today I feel much more tired than any other day.

While jogging I finally seem to snap out of my sleepy stupor and I rub the eye boogers out of my eyes I since they were what was keeping my eyes closed. I straighten up my posture and then run at a comfortable pace since I'm not in the mood to sweat today.

Thank goodness I run in the morning when it's cool… er.

There isn't anyone who's awake at six thirty in the morning—except for those who haven't slept but that's rare—so I just take this time to admire the scenery around our small village. Since it takes a while to run two miles I'm even able to see the sunrise every day—except for weekends—and it always gives me a warm feeling inside. I always think that the sunrises are beautiful here and that's probably because I've never actually left the village before.

I furrow my brow when I think I hear another pair of footsteps behind me. I know for a fact that my dad doesn't run with me because he thinks he's too old for that. I look back after making sure that there's nothing in my way.

_Jamie?!_ I think with disbelief as I turn forward again.

I lightly smack my face to make sure I'm not dreaming or to get rid of any of the sleep I think I still have. I shake my head slightly and realize that I'm not dreaming and I'm not sleepy. I listen again for Jamie's footsteps and I do, in fact, hear them. But the thing is I also hear them coming closer.

I turn my head just enough to barely see Jamie's form approaching me but I also make it look like I'm not looking at him but at the trees.

"I didn't know you ran around this time," I heard Jamie say as he came up beside me. I roll my eyes.

"I'm the only one who does," I mutter with annoyance.

"Well maybe we can be running buddies," Jamie suggests as we continue jogging next to each other.

"Why don't you seem to get that I don't want to talk or be near you?" I ask him while running a little faster. "You don't have to be nice to me just 'cause your mother tells you to. If she ever asks I'll tell her that you've been nice so you can leave me alone now."

"I'm not being nice because my mom told me to," Jamie said while catching up. "I'm being nice because it makes things easier. You should try being nice once in a while."

"I am nice just not to people I don't know," I spat with a scowl.

"Then let's get to know each other so you know me. We've got a mile and a half until we reach the two mile point," Jamie says with a smile.

"No!" I say as if he doesn't understand what's coming out of my mouth. "I don't see why you can't understand that I simply don't like you. You make it sound like you want me to respect you but I'm not going to respect you until you prove you deserve it."

"Respecting you isn't enough?" Jamie asks me.

"You're not respecting me because you keep popping up everywhere after I try to make it clear that you bother me. If you respect me then you'll leave me alone unless told otherwise," I almost literally growl at Jamie.

Instead of jogging I take off running just so I can get away from Jamie. I don't like him for the reason that he's a foreigner in our village and also—for some strange reason—because he's from the Fire Nation. It makes me feel like the Fire Nation is trying to get in on nation's circles, like they're wannabes.

For some reason I think he's going to go running to the Fire Nation with his family to tell everyone what it's like being in a run-down village from the Earth Nation. I guess I just don't want to be betrayed is what I'm trying to say. That's also why I haven't left this village because it's so close knit that you know who you can trust and who you can't trust.


	4. Coincidental

**Disclaimer**: Series created by Michael DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko.

**Claimer**: I own the OCs and the plot along with the village and the villagers. Nothing more and nothing less.

**Pairing**: OCxOC

* * *

Coincidental

"Alex, go and get some groceries for me, will you," my mother orders, knowing fully well not to make her demand sound like a question.

I sigh as I pick myself up off of the couch. My mother hands me a list and money but all I see is scribbles because I don't feel like paying attention right at this minute. It's one of those days where I feel extremely lazy but, unfortunately, I can't.

I leave the house and consider using a new technique I taught myself. It took a while, though. I decided against it since I think it still needs some improving so I walk slowly instead.

As I head for the small market place I waved to everyone I'd see and greet them with their names included. I finally reach the marketplace and I begin to look for what my mother wants. Every time I stopped at a stall I would have a small chat while gathering groceries and paying for them.

"Oh look… it's the outsider," one elderly woman scowled as if talking about slavery.

My village truly dislikes outsiders, obviously.

I'm sure that it got a little quieter when people realized who was here. Almost half of everyone here was looking. I turned to see which family member it was from Jamie's family.

Surprise surprise it's Jamie himself. I wonder why this had to happen.

I turn around and try to make myself unnoticeable because I don't want to risk the chance of him seeing me. If he sees me he might be compelled to come and talk to me just because we're "the same age" or some crazy stuff like that. If he talks to me then I might end up being a traitor in this village. I would bring shame to my parents and my kids when I get some in the future.

"Here are your cabbages Alex," the elderly lady spoke while holding out a wrapped cabbage.

"Thank you," I thank her with a kind smile.

I take out my list and realize I'm done. I mentally cheer and put the cabbage in my bag. I decide to make hast with leaving in order to stay away from Jamie to avoid being labeled as a traitor. That's just the cruel reality of a close-nit village here.

Half way to my house I heard someone call my name. I turn around automatically and regret it. Jamie walks up to me and I quickly look around to make sure no one is around. Thankfully, no one's around to see him come up to me.

"You don't know how happy I am to see someone I know," Jamie says sounding genuinely relieved.

"You don't know me, though. You only know my name," I spat at him.

"That's still considered knowing someone," he retorted but with a surprisingly calm and happy-like tone to his voice.

"By the way, I've been meaning to tell you that you seem to be really good in your bending," Jamie says with a smile I can only assume that he thinks is charming.

"I'm the best so of course I'm good at it. That's only because I have the best teacher," I say with no interest in our conversation again. "Although I don't think it's fair since I've never seen you fire bend."

"Hopefully, you never will," Jamie says with a smaller smile as he turns forward again.

My angry demeanor immediately falls when I notice this slight change in Jamie's attitude. I furrow my brow in concentration and notice that he's just happy because he really is happy that he found someone he somewhat knew. If he's not happy now it's because he's remembering something that isn't as good. I choose not to press him because it's personal for him and because I don't know anything about him. Anyway, I don't want to show concern or else I'll start getting attached.

In my case that's not a good thing. I might as well try, though.

"Er… you okay?" I ask with some difficulty.

Jamie looks at me and doesn't seem to notice my question of concern. He shrugs and he acts the same as when we first met: awkward and distant.

"I'm fine. It's nothing that you would concern yourself with," he says as his face goes blank.

I shake my head and mumble, "You fire nation people are so confusing."

"We're not all the same you know," Jamie says with a reproachful glance at me.

"As far as I'm concerned you are," I say with a shrug.

"Have you actually met anyone from the fire nation beside me?" Jamie asks with a tone that says he wants to prove me wrong.

"No…" I'm forced to say since I can't lie.

"Then stop saying we're all the same if you don't actually know what we're like," Jamie says with plenty of hatred evident in his voice.

I can say now I don't like that tone because it makes me feel stupid and ignorant. I might be ignorant but I'm not going to admit to that and I'm not going to let anyone prove this in such a way.

"Then why were you so glad to see me, huh? What made you feel so uncomfortable while going shopping for groceries?" I ask him but with plenty more hatred heard in my voice.

"Because I felt like they were staring at me, like they hated me even though they don't know me," Jamie says with more of a saddened tone. "It's the kind of ignorance like that that angers me."

"Oh, so now we're _all_ ignorant?" I ask angrily with a slightly louder tone. "I might as well apologize for the whole village when I say that we're all so sorry for being so ignorant and for being so barbaric and nowhere near as sophisticated or educated as you. Maybe ya should jus' go back to where ya came from an' leave us to milk our goat cows an' our snake lizards?" I shout with more of a stupid tone to my voice.

"I-I didn't mean-"

"Oh, yeah, 'course you didn't! In your land they teach ya to be all polite-like to us stupid folk, right? Why don't ya beat it, get off a our land, and go back to ya tea an' crumpets!"

I take a jump forward where my left foot lands last and in front then I slide my right foot toward Jamie and move my hands toward him with palms touching but facing outward. The ground underneath Jamie moves and he slides down the dirt road and he actually falls. I keep my feet on the ground but act like I'm power walking and the ground moves with my feet and I go faster than if I was running.

I'm such a stubborn, pig-headed girl who offends too easily.


End file.
